A healthy dose of purposeful bathroom humor sets the stage for exploration in engineer and illustrator Jorge Cham’s new graphic novel Volcanoes Are Hot: Oliver’s Great Big Universe #2. Available September 17, the book follows Oliver, a middle schooler with wild black hair and an even wilder imagination. Oliver navigates the trials and tribulations of pre-adolescence, while exploring some of the world’s most burning science questions–namely how volcanoes work and why they are so gassy.
Volcanoes are Hot and its predecessor–Oliver’s Great Big Universe–are both geared towards a reader who wouldn’t necessarily pick up a science book, but are still curious in understanding more about how the world works. As a husband, father of two, and a school library volunteer, Cham knows a thing or two about how that interest in science can bubble up in some unexpected ways.
[Related: Digging to the center of the Earth–or at least enough to bury poop.]
“One day at dinner, my son whose name is Oliver, said he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up,” Cham tells Popular Science. “He said that he wanted to be an astrophysicist, but when we asked him if he knew what they do, he said that he didn’t. He just knew that he wanted to be an astrophysicist.”
In order to meet young readers at the intersection of enthusiasm and knowledge gaps, Cham keeps the more science-focused concepts fun, but still linked to a kid’s everyday experiences. He uses the tried and true humor of bodily functions, an inherent need to tease a younger sibling, and favorite foods among other things to help connect common feelings and occurrences with a more abstract science concept.
“One example is how the layers of the Earth are like a boba drink. We’re big fans of boba here in this house,” laughs Cham.
Careful choices about language are also important to Cham, avoiding some of the jargon that might sound impressive, but won’t necessarily be impactful to a reader.
“I sort of prioritize understanding the concept over learning the word that scientists would use for something,” says Cham. “Because, to be honest, they’re not going to remember that word after they read the book, but they hopefully will remember the idea.”
This word choice is clear when Cham doesn’t shy away from some of the more scary themes like climate change. While discussing how methane–and how some of it comes from cow farts– is a smelly problem warming up the Earth, Oliver explains, “If we’re not careful, Earth could end up sort of like the planet Venus, which is covered in so much of the blanket gas that it’s 475℃ there.”
Instead of a message that the planet is doomed, it is presented as a fact that we can do something about and some of the basic science behind global warming.
[Related: We shouldn’t disregard the ideas that come from teens’ developing brains.]
With all of the importance of word choice, analogies, plenty of body humor, and not fearing the difficult topics, curiosity is the central theme throughout. To Cham, that focus on curiosity has an added bonus of teaching media and science literacy. It’s not just about encouraging kids to be curious about science and the world around them, but also be a bit critical about where they’re getting information and who they are trusting. He also believes that science literacy is important because kids have access to devices. Every parent or caregiver knows that they will be using them to find information, so it is crucial that they learn how to vet information at an age appropriate way.
“What I try to do with my kids is whenever they tell me some facts or something, I ask them where they learned it,” says Cham. “In the books, Oliver explains how we know he knows that, or he explains how anyone knows certain facts. That just fosters curiosity and makes sure that kids’ curiosity is valued and respected. I think all kids are curious, but a lot of times they don’t know it yet.”
Volcanoes Are Hot: Oliver’s Great Big Universe #2 by Jorge Cham is available now from Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS.
